‘Delusional and cheap’: Scott Morrison launches at Albanese over swipe on antisemitism

1 month ago 19

Former prime minister Scott Morrison has accused Anthony Albanese of political opportunism and weak leadership after the prime minister claimed in parliament that antisemitism surged on the Coalition’s watch and was not adequately confronted before Labor came to office.

In the first question time in parliament since the Bondi attack, Albanese – when asked by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to apologise for his government’s failure to tackle antisemitism – said that anti-Jewish hatred had not “begun with the election of the government in 2022”.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Pressed on whether his government had failed to contain a wave of anti-Jewish hatred, Albanese pointed to comments from senior Coalition figures who had acknowledged rising antisemitism during the Morrison years.

“Let me be very clear. All governments should have done better … the idea that antisemitism began two years ago, with the change of government, is false and it’s declared to be false by the comments of those opposite in senior positions,” Albanese told parliament.

“Despite the surge in antisemitism on their watch, did the Morrison government appoint a special envoy to combat antisemitism?”

Morrison hit back within hours, with a social media update saying: “Hamas never praised the actions of my Government @AlboMP, but they did praise yours.”

In a lengthy statement to this masthead, Morrison defended his record and launched a blistering attack on the prime minister’s response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and its aftermath.

He said Albanese’s “empty and ambivalent” response abrogated his responsibility for national leadership and created a dangerous vacuum that was filled by the worst streams of antisemitism this country had ever seen, producing a fivefold increase in antisemitic incidents that had culminated in the extremist Islamist attack at Bondi on December 14.

“His meandering and weak response to this [Bondi] attack left Australians embarrassed and the Australian Jewish community devastated,” Morrison said.

He labelled Albanese’s parliamentary remarks on Tuesday as “delusional and cheap diversionary” stunt, arguing that “on my watch, zero tolerance on antisemitism would have meant exactly that in practice”.

The former prime minister, who left parliament in early 2024, has largely stayed out of domestic policy debates since.

In an exit interview with this masthead, he nominated Labor’s Julia Gillard as the leader he would most like to emulate after politics. He said former prime ministers had had their chance at partisan politics, and commended Gillard for refusing to criticise his handling of the COVID pandemic when urged by others.

He has, however, continued to speak out on the Chinese Communist Party’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and the AUKUS submarine pact.

Morrison on Tuesday accused Labor of dismantling key security and foreign policy settings after winning office in 2022.

“Following Mr Albanese’s election in May 2022, his Government ended 75 years of bipartisan policy regarding Israel and the issue of Palestinian statehood, reversing our other policies including our programmes in Home Affairs to deal with security threats in vulnerable communities, and kicked key security agency heads off the National Security Committee,” he said in his statement.

Albanese’s office declined to comment further on Tuesday evening.

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